August Hanning, the former president of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND), was arrested on Tuesday on allegations of espionage and attempted treason. The federal prosecutor's office stated that the former intelligence chief is suspected of passing state secrets to a foreign intelligence service and working as an agent.
Investigators are examining whether Hanning obtained classified documents from his former agency to provide them to foreign powers. Hanning served as the head of the BND from December 1998 to November 2005.
The arrest has shaken the German political world and is regarded as one of the biggest scandals to engulf the BND since the agency's creation in the mid-1950s. The case reportedly has roots in a kidnapping plot involving a steakhouse heiress.